mark upon their
dead that they might thus escape suspicion, themselves."

"Henry de Montfort," said Norman of Torn, turning to his visitor, "we of
Torn bear no savory name, that I know full well, but no man may say that
we unsheath our swords against women. Your sister is not here. I give
you the word of honor of Norman of Torn. Is it not enough?"

"They say you never lie," replied De Montfort. "Would to God I knew who
had done this thing, or which way to search for my sister."

Norman of Torn made no reply, his thoughts were in wild confusion, and
it was with difficulty that he hid the fierce anxiety of his heart or
his rage against the perpetrators of this dastardly act which tore his
whole being.

In silence De Montfort turned and left, nor had his party scarce passed
the drawbridge ere the castle of Torn was filled with hurrying men and
the noise and uproar of a sudden call to arms.

Some thirty minutes later, five hundred iron-clad horses carried their
mailed riders beneath the portcullis of the grim pile, and Norman the
Devil, riding at their head, spurred rapidly in the direction of the
castle of Peter of Colfax.

The great troop, winding down the rocky trail from Torn's buttressed
gates, presented a picture of wild barbaric splendor.

The armor of the men was of every style and metal from the ancient
banded mail of the Saxon to the richly ornamented plate armor of Milan.
Gold and silver and precious stones set in plumed crest and breastplate
and shield, and even in the steel spiked chamfrons of the horses' head
armor showed the rich loot which had fallen to the portion of Norman of
Torn's wild raiders.

Fluttering pennons streamed from five hundred lance points, and the gray
banner of Torn, with the black falcon's wing, flew above each of the
five companies. The great linden wood shields of the men were covered
with gray leather and, in the upper right hand corner of each, was the
black falcon's wing. The surcoats of the riders were also uniform, being
of dark gray villosa faced with black wolf skin, so that notwithstanding
the richness of the armor and the horse trappings, there was a grim,
gray warlike appearance to these wild companies that comported well with
their reputation.

Recruited from all ranks of society and from every civilized country of
Europe, the great horde of Torn numbered in its ten companies serf and
noble; Britain, Saxon, Norman, Dane, German, Italian and French, Scot,
Pict and